The Law

The responsibility to supply safe consumer goods applies all the way down from the manufacturer to the retailer. This means that products being sold should comply with any relevant legislation or recognised safety standard.

The main 2 pieces of legislation dealing with the safety of consumer goods are:

The Consumer Protection Act 1987

The General Product Safety Regulations 2005

In addition to these 2 pieces of legislation, there are over 60 specific regulations and 100s of recognised safety standards covering product safety. Some of these include:

Electrical Equipment

Cosmetics

Furniture

Toys

Pushchairs

Bicycles

Nightwear

Hood Cords

Babies Dummies

Tyres

Whilst most consumer goods are covered by the above legislation, some exemptions such as motor vehicles and medicinal products are covered by separate controlling legislation which may be enforced by other agencies such as Trading Standards.